1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of device access and control. More particularly, this invention relates to devices having embedded web functionality for device access and control functions.
2. Art Background
A wide variety of devices including office equipment, home-based equipment, and lab equipment, as well as a variety of other types of devices commonly include device-specific control and access functions. Such devices may also be referred to as gadgets. Office equipment includes, for example, printers, fax machines, copiers, and various types of communication and telephony devices. Home-based devices include home entertainment equipment such as televisions and video and audio players and recorders as well as security systems, automobiles, appliances, thermostats, and hot tubs. Lab equipment includes measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers and other types of measurement equipment as well as networking equipment.
The control and access mechanisms of such devices commonly include relatively simple and low cost user input and display mechanisms. Such simple mechanisms may include, for example, light emitting elements such as LED/LCD elements as well as various types of simple input buttons or switches. Such simple mechanisms are typically constructed to be low cost to minimize the overall cost of such devices. In addition, such mechanisms are usually compact and enable relatively small sizes for such devices. Unfortunately, such simple mechanisms severely limit the range and flexibility of the control and access functions provided by such devices.
The control and access functions of such a device may be enhanced by the implementation of a screen-based access and control mechanism within the device. For example, such a device may include a display screen, and a rendering processor along with appropriate software for generating a rich graphical interface suitable for the particular type of device. However, such screen displays and rendering mechanisms are usually expensive and increase the overall cost of the device. Such high costs are typically unsuitable for lower cost devices targeted for a relatively large mass market. Moreover, display screens and associated hardware may be too bulky for the size constraints of many devices.